Hungarian Competition Authority

The Gazdasági Versenyhivatal (GVH, Hungarian Competition Authority) has authorised in its decision the acquisition of control by Konzum Befektetési Alapkezelő Zrt. (Konzum Investment), Konzum Management Kft. (Konzum Management) and Lőrinc Mészáros over Opimus Group Nyrt. (Opimus).

The undertakings applying for authorisation of the concentration from the GVH, Konzum Investment and Konzum Management, which are members of an undertaking group under the control of Gellért Jászai, together with Lőrinc Mészáros acting as a private person, acquire more than fifty per cent of ownership and joint control over Opimus within the framework of the transaction investigated.

The GVH launched a competition supervision procedure in order to investigate the transaction on the basis of the information provided in the notification form, which led the GVH to the conclusion that it required the opinion of the Nemzeti Média- és Hírközlési Hatóság Médiatanács (the Media Council) as the competent authority given the fact the Mészáros-group and the Opimus-group have editorial responsibility in transmitting media content to the general public. Médiatanács terminated its procedure due to a lack of competence to proceed.

When assessing the horizontal effects of the concentration the GVH examined the identical (cross-over) activities of the undertaking-groups concerned – the Jászai-group, the Mészáros-group and the Opimus-group – and established that the market share of each undertaking-group was under 10 per cent in the markets of selling advertising space, commercial real estate, hotel services and building industry services; consequently, harmful horizontal effects could be excluded. The GVH also did not identify any harmful vertical or portfolio effects as the market shares of the groups concerned did not reach the threshold required to jeopardise competition in the related markets either.

Considering all of the above-mentioned, the GVH established that the joint acquisition of control of Konzum Investment, Konzum Management and Lőrinc Mészáros over Opimus Group would not significantly decrease competition in the markets concerned.

Case number: Vj/26/2017.

Budapest, 21 June 2017

Hungarian Competition Authority

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